Happy Holidays

Thank you for your support throughout 2009. We owe our success to you, our clients, readers and friends and we wish to express our gratitude and continued support.

We are looking forward to working with you during the new year and we wish you a prosperous, happy and joyous New Year 2010.

Read more on Happy Holidays…

Visa Refusals Under Section 221(g)

Our office receives a fair number of Section 221(g) inquiries from visa applicants at a U.S. Consulate abroad.   This article aims to explain Section 221(g) and to provide some tips for dealing with a 221(g) visa refusal.
About Section 221(g)
Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)  provides for temporary refusal of visa when an [...]

Visa Bulletin Predictions

In a November 2009 AILA meeting, Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, who is Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division at the Department of State (or also known as the person who determines the visa bulletin dates), has indicated some ways in which the visa bulletin numbers will move over the next few months.
Mr. Oppenheim’s [...]

Breaking News – FY2010 H-1B Cap Reached (December 22, 2009)

A few minutes ago USCIS announced that as of December 21, 2009, it has received sufficient petitions to reach the statutory cap for FY2010.  USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.
No New FY2010 Cap-Subject H-1B Filings Accepted
USCIS will reject all [...]

FY2010 H-1B Numbers Update – 800 H-1B Visas Left (December 17, 2009)

USCIS released updated information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1.  As of December 17, 2009, USCIS has received approximately 64,200 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap.  The updated count means that as of December 17, 2009, there were 800 H-1B visas left under this year’s H-1B quota and USCIS will [...]

Form DS-160 Worldwide Deployment

The Department of State has announced that it will deploy the DS-160 fully web-based nonimmigrant visa application form worldwide.  DS-160 has been used so far successfully in 24 consular posts and will be expanded to cover all consular posts by April 30, 2010.
About DS-160
The DS-160 application form combines all information previously collected on the DS-156, [...]

January 2010 Visa Bulletin – Slow Forward Movement

The January 2010 Visa Bulletin was just released by the State Department.  The fourth visa bulletin for the fiscal year 2010 and the first for the calendar 2010 does not bring much movement.  For many categories, the only forward movement is in the 1-2 months range.  Here is a summary of the January 2010 Visa [...]

FY2010 H-1B Numbers Update – 2,500 H-1B Visas Left (December 10, 2009)

 
USCIS released updated information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1.  As of December 10, 2009, USCIS has received approximately 62,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 1,000 in the past three days).   The updated count means that as of December 10, 2009, there were 2,500 H-1B visas [...]

FY2010 H-1B Numbers Update – 3,500 H-1B Visas Left (December 8, 2009)

USCIS released updated information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1.  As of December 8, 2009, USCIS has received approximately 61,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap (an increase of 3,000 in the past week).   The updated count means that as of December 8, 2009, there were 3,500 H-1B visas left [...]

Nebraska Service Center – Processing Statistics

In a recent AILA-Nebraska Service Center (“NSC”) teleconference, the NSC Director provided some helpful statistics about the Nebraska Service Center operations in 2009:

The NSC processed over 950,000 applications and petitions in 2009, including 250,000 cases for EADs and more than 200,000 travel documents, including Travel Documents for refugees, asylees and permanent residents.
252,000 cases were pending [...]